There will be spoilers in the upcoming article on some key moments in the film. If you want to avoid spoilers, only continue reading at your own risk.
Marvel Studios isn’t a stranger to including cameos in their films. As the years went on, we’ve seen the heroes of the Marvel Cinematic Universe crossover into other projects more and more. Especially a film like Black Widow that takes place between Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War, it seemed like the perfect place to include elements from the expanded universe even as it introduces us to a new side of its past.
Well, even with many rumors going around we never got a cameo by Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark or Chris Evans‘ Steve Rogers. We got some references to Hawkeye but he wasn’t physically present. According to director Cate Shortland, this was a decision enforced by Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige, as she stated in an interview with Total Film.
Initially, there was discussions about everything, about all of the different characters. What we decided was, and I think Kevin was really great, he said, ‘She doesn’t need the boys.’ We didn’t want it to feel like she needs the support. We want her to stand alone. And she does.
We do get one returning character from a previous project, which is William Hurt as Thaddeus Ross. He doesn’t have a big role but he does connect and set up the timeline when Black Widow takes place. Otherwise, the story is all about Natasha and returning to her long-lost family. Otherwise, the story is purely about Natasha and her past with the Red Room we got a glimpse of in Avengers: Age of Ultron. Moving forward, the question will be how and where characters introduced in this film might make a grand return.
Source: Total Film
